RICHMOND — Metro has not been able to maintain operations and keep the public safe, Virginia鈥檚 transportation secretary says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a popularity contest. This is not about making sure everybody鈥檚 happy,鈥� Aubrey Layne said. 鈥淭his is about running a business and making sure our traveling public鈥檚 safe, and they have proven that they have not been able to do that up to date.鈥�
Some riders are now unsure about whether they should be comfortable using the system since news emerged that .
Layne said he understood how those riders felt.聽鈥淭he overall safety record has been relatively good, but there鈥檚 no excuse for what happened,鈥� he said.
Jennifer Mitchell, the head of Virginia鈥檚 Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said that while she understands riders can get frustrated, “I鈥檇 say keep riding. It is still overwhelmingly a very, very safe system.聽We certainly recognize that commuters are very frustrated by the delays 鈥� and when they don鈥檛 get information about their trip 鈥� but Metro is still very safe and we don鈥檛 want people to stop using it.”
The Metro Board鈥檚 safety committee is expected to meet Sept. 3 to review an investigation into the Aug. 6 derailment of a train that was about to go into service near the Smithsonian station. The derailment was caused by the two rails being too far apart and seriously impacted three rush hours.聽No one was hurt.
Rob Troup, Metro鈥檚 deputy general manager, said the track should have been immediately taken out of service for repairs when the problem was detected in July. The initial investigation is due Monday into how the track issue could have been left alone for weeks.
Meanwhile, Metro is searching for a new leader. Layne and Mitchell agreed that a lack of leadership is聽Metro鈥檚 biggest problem right now.
鈥淲e can talk about long-term stuff, but in the short-term it falls to the [Metro] Board,鈥� Layne said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e not up to it, I鈥檓 going to talk to our people and we鈥檒l replace them, because we’ve got to find somebody that鈥檚 going to take responsibility.鈥�
Metro first started a search for a general manager nearly a year ago, before Richard Sarles retired in January. Jack Requa has been Metro鈥檚 interim leader since.
The initial general manager search was halted amid a dispute about the type of leader Maryland, Virginia and D.C. leaders preferred to run the agency.
